Turkey has finished its first military base in Somalia and will help train the country’s army to fight the deadly al-Shabaab terror group, a senior Turkish source told Anadolu Agency on Oct. 1. A Turkish military attache speaking on condition of anonymity said the U.N.-backed base will be operational by the start of 2017.
About 200 Turkish officers will be deployed to the facility in Mogadishu -the Somali capital - to deliver the first stage of training to over 10,000 Somali National Army troops and others soldiers from across Africa, he confirmed.
Turkish military officials in Somalia also said Ankara will open a firm in Mogadishu to make Somali military uniforms.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency on Sept. 30, Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamed praised Turkey’s involvement in the Horn of Africa country: "Turkey’s prominent role in Somalia can be seen at all levels: humanitarian, infrastructure, health and investment.
“I am not exaggerating if I say that the historic visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Somalia in 2011 was a turning point in the evolution of security and stability in the country," he said.
"Turkey is a historical key partner for Somalia as Turkey stood with us at a time when we were ignored by the whole world,” he added. “Turkey drew the world's attention on Somalia and the Somali people respect and appreciate the Turkish government and the Turkish people as well."
This year Erdoğan visited Somalia for the third time in three years and opened Turkey’s biggest embassy in Africa.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/02/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
The Omar Mukhtar Operations Room, part of the Libyan National Army (LNA), says it intercepted a container ship, the Panama-flagged Viya, and forced it to dock at Tobruk for inspection. The operations room claimed that the vessel was heading to Turkey and suggested that it was carrying suspect cargo having first loaded at Khoms and Misrata.
In fact, the ship was found to contain nothing more dangerous than scrap iron – although this is reported to be one of a number of items whose export was banned by eastern military governor Major-General Abdul Razzaq Al-Nazhuri last month
For their part, the ship’s managers, Istanbul-based Akar Shipping, have told the Libya Herald that the ship was heading to Tobruk from Khoms in the first place to discharge some cargoes and load others, that it was not seized and that all that happened was customs officials in Tobruk made a routine inspection after it docked.
Shipping website marinetraffic.com confirmed that the Viya’s destination was Tobruk.
The LNA is known to be nervous about vessels arriving in eastern waters from the west of the country.
[ENGADGET] The Department of Defense announced on Friday that it is investing $100 million in a drone base located in Agadez, in central Niger.
I think that $100 mil includes all the gratuities...
The base will serve as a central surveillance hub in the fight against both Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... and roaming hard boy groups linked to al Qaeda.
"At the request of, and in close coordination with, the Government of Niger, United States Africa Command is establishing a temporary, expeditionary cooperative security location in Agadez, Niger," a US Africa Command spokesperson told Rooters via email. "Agadez is an ideal, central location to enable ISR collection (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) to face the security threat across the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin region."
The US already has a military presence in both Agadez and the national capital, Niamey. With the establishment of this new drone base, which is located adjacent to an existing US airfield, those capital forces will likely transition to Agadez, centralizing America's ISR (Intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) efforts in the region. Any intel gathered by these drones will be shared among America's regional partners including Nigeria, Chad and Mali.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Boko Haram
#1
Just imagine what we could do if we actually cared.
#2
5200 yards, small but well watered, careful with the #6 Dawg-leg, safely play up, if you attempt to carry and fail, your caddy could lose life or limb.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... militias ‐ who control Yemen’s capital Sanaa ‐ are setting up a Farsi language course at the University of Sanaa, Yemeni news site Marib Press reported on Saturday.
According to academic sources, the president of the university recently issued a decision to establish the department immediately and to begin to accept students.
The course is reportedly expected to begin later this month, in which a declaration ceremony is expected to take place with the attendance of an official from the Iranian embassy in Sanaa.
The Farsi language department will be replacing the Turkish language department, which had reportedly been stopped by the Houthis last year for political reasons.
Teaching staff will include Houthis who received higher education in Iran, as well as the cultural attaché from the Iranian embassy in Sanaa.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
look forward to the BDA
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/02/2016 13:22 Comments ||
Top||
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Moslems in Hungary say they are wary of the government’s anti-migrant referendum this weekend, which polls suggest has boosted xenophobic feelings.
The government, contending that there is a direct link between migrants colonists and terrorism, is seeking a popular mandate in Sunday’s vote for its opposition to accepting any mandatory European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... quotas for resettling asylum seekers.
"I’m starting to feel that my own homeland is repudiating me," says Timea Nagy, a Hungarian Moslem.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said Hungarians have "no problems" with the local Moslem community, but he believes any EU quotas to relocate asylum seekers, including many Moslems, would destroy Hungary’s Christian identity and culture.
Orban hopes that a rejection of EU quotas in the referendum will be mimicked by others and force Brussels to reconsider the scheme.
A poll taken in August by the Publicus Institute for the Vasarnapi Hirek newspaper found 35 percent of the 1,000 people asked said it was obligatory to help refugees, down from 64 percent in September 2015.
Some 5,600 Moslems live in Hungary, according to the 2011 census, the latest available.
On Friday, about 30 people took part in a "Moslems living among us" walking tour in a Budapest neighborhood, an effort to counter prejudice.
Human face
"In the past year, especially since the migrant crisis is causing tension in Hungarian society, this is one of our most popular walks," said tour guide Anna Lenard. "We present Hungarian Moslem communities and try to show their human face because people living here get a lot of false information from the media."
The tour in the city’s so-called "New Buda" neighborhood stretching to the Danube River includes stops in several shops and mosques, as well as presentations and chats by community leaders.
"We could say that this (referendum) campaign is against the migrants colonists but in reality it is covertly against Islam, that’s how people mostly understood it," said Tayseer Saleh, imam of the Darusallam Mosque.
"We do not support the migrants colonists coming to Europe," Saleh said. "We support putting an end to the problems there and I guarantee that 90 percent of the people will return to their homeland."
Government billboards and media ads have drawn a direct link between migration and terrorism, warned Hungarians that millions more migrants colonists may soon be headed for Europe and asserted that cases of harassment of women in Europe have risen greatly since the start of the migrant crisis.
Valuable asset
Speaking last September at a meeting of Hungarian diplomats, Orban said the Moslems in Hungary were a "valuable asset" and wanted to avoid causing "awkward situations, even at the verbal level" for them.
"We are truly glad that there are kebab shops on our avenues. We like buying lamb from Syrian butchers at Easter," Orban said. "We are going to honor this Moslem community in Hungary, but we don’t want their proportion to grow suddenly."
Local Moslems said the problems they faced in light of the government’s referendum campaign were far beyond awkward.
"I consider myself a good Hungarian and I want to be one, too," Timea Nagy said. "But if people are surrounded by this kind of propaganda and they are so impressionable, it often makes you wonder."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists
#1
"I’m starting to feel that my own homeland is repudiating me," says Timea Nagy, a Hungarian Moslem.
Why wouldn't anyone's homeland have a strident position against Islam?
#2
Actually, Timea, it's exactly the other way around. Right now, there are few of you and you behave civilly - no public resentment against you. If a lot of "refugees" gets in, they'll behave like they do everywhere. That would lead to resentment against all Muslims. And you wouldn't like how it ends.
"Youse mooks gotta choose: ya gonna open the gates, or ya gonna make us flood ya with the rest of the world?"
[IsraelTimes] Turkish leader: It is time for Brussels to decide once and for all whether it wants us as part of the union or not
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... on Saturday warned that The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... had reached the "end of the game" over its decades-long EU membership bid, saying it was time for Brussels once and for all to make clear if it wanted Ankara as a member.
In a hard-hitting speech marking the opening session of parliament, Erdogan also told Brussels it needed to allow Turks visa-free travel to the bloc by October, as per a previous agreement to decrease migrant flows.
Relations between the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and Turkey have strained in the wake of the July 15 failed coup, with EU officials among the most vocal critics of the relentless crackdown against the alleged plotters and supporters
"If the EU is going to make Turkey a full member, we are ready. But they should know that we have come to the end of the game," Erdogan said in a televised speech in Ankara.
"There is no need to beat around the bush or engage in diplomatic acrobatics.
"It’s their (the EU’s) choice to continue the path with or without Turkey. They should not hold us responsible," he added.
Erdogan said that October would be an important month in Turkey’s relations with the European Union and that "it is necessary" that visa-free travel for Turks to the Schengen Area comes into force this month.
Under a March deal, Turks were to gain visa-free travel in exchange for Ankara helping reduce the flow of migrants colonists to Europe. However the visa plan has stumbled over Turkey’s anti-terror laws.
Turkey’s bid to join the EU dates back to the 1960s with formal talks starting in 2005. So far, only 16 chapters of the 35 chapter accession process have been opened for Turkey.
"The fact that our country has been kept waiting at the door for 53 years shows your (the EU’s) opinion towards us," Erdogan added.
After the attempted coup, Erdogan mulled bringing back capital punishment, a move which would spell an end to the bid. But he did not mention the issue in the speech to parliament.
[AnNahar] President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stirred up controversy over the treaty that almost a century ago set the borders of modern Turkey, alarming both neighbouring Greece and secular opposition at home. In a speech Thursday, Erdogan for the first time rejected the notion that the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne was a "victory" for Turkey and wistfully lamented the loss of Aegean islands which are now Greek territory.
The treaty -- the founding basis of the modern Turkish state out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire -- has usually been seen inside the country as a triumph of its secular leadership led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. For the secular opposition in Turkey, Erdogan's comments have represented another dangerous lapse into neo-Ottomanism, signalling his regret that Ankara does not control territory stretching from Balkans to Africa as Constantinople did in Ottoman times. But for pro-Erdogan commentators his remarks were a timely reminder that modern Turkey has just a fraction of the territory controlled by the Ottoman Empire.
- 'Is this a victory?' -
"You see the Aegean, don't you?" Erdogan told local officials in the speech at his presidential palace.
"In Lausanne, we gave away islands (so near that) your voice can be heard if you shout across to them. Is this a victory?" he asked. "They were ours. There are our mosques, our shrines there."
Erdogan rounded on those who negotiated the treaty who included Ismet Inonu, Ataturk's right-hand-man who would later succeed him as president and still a hero for secularists.
"Those who sat at that table could not make the best of the agreement. Today we are suffering the consequences."
After the Ottoman defeat in World War I, the existence of any future Turkish state had been in question. However thanks to the strategic brilliance of Ataturk and victory in the War of Independence against Greece, modern Turkey was founded in 1923 as a state stretching from the Mediterranean to Persia. The military victory and Lausanne Treaty reversed the outcome of the 1919 Treaty of Sevres which, if implemented, would have seen modern Turkey reduced to a rump around Istanbul and Anatolia.
Under the new borders enshrined in Lausanne, all the Aegean islands went to Greece, with the exception of Gokceada (Imroz) and Bozcaada (Tenedos). Several islands however had already been captured from the Ottoman Empire in a 1912 war.
- 'Dangerous for relations' -
Athens, which has had generally solid relations with Ankara during Erdogan's rule, said the controversy would not do ties any good.
"Calling the Treaty of Lausanne into question ... is dangerous both to relations between our two countries and the wider region," Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said.
Junior foreign minister for European affairs Nikos Xydakis told SKAI TV "Erdogan's surprise outbursts" were becoming customary.
"He is facing great pressure inside," he said, pointing to the July 15 failed coup and the troubles in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.
Erdogan's comments were indeed surprising, given that on the 93rd anniversary of the treaty on July 24 he lauded the treaty as the "founding document of the Republic" and a "victory won with our glorious people's faith, courage and sacrifice".
Aykan Erdemir, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Erdogan's "U-turn" marked a crumbling of unity with the secular opposition in the aftermath of the July 15 coup.
"Now that the Turkish president has reestablished full control over the country, he feels comfortable to go back to his anti-republican and polarising narrative," Erdemir told AFP.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/02/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
"If the EU is going to make Turkey a full member, we are ready. But they should know that we have come to the end of the game," Erdogan said in a televised speech in Ankara.
Fuck him. Fuck them. Why are we pretending this is even a question?
#2
Turkey had reached the "end of the game" over its decades-long EU membership bid, saying it was time for Brussels once and for all to make clear if it wanted Ankara as a member.
#4
Erdogan for the first time rejected the notion that the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne was a "victory" for Turkey and wistfully lamented the loss of Aegean islands which are now Greek territory.
Ok you Euro weenies he has all but declared a war of conquest on you. What you gonna do, hmmm?
However thanks to the strategic brilliance of Ataturk and victory in the War of Independence against Greece, modern Turkey was founded in 1923 as a state stretching from the Mediterranean to Persia. The military victory and Lausanne Treaty reversed the outcome of the 1919 Treaty of Sevres which, if implemented, would have seen modern Turkey reduced to a rump around Istanbul and Anatolia.
"In Lausanne, we gave away islands (so near that) your voice can be heard if you shout across to them. Is this a victory?" he asked. "They were ours. There are our mosques, our shrines there."
Territorial revanchism has really worked out well for Europe in the last 100 years or so.
[RUDAW.NET] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... on Saturday blasted the international community for what he said was inaction in Syria, asking whether the world was waiting for a million dead in the war-torn country before taking serious action.
"More than 600,000 civilians have been killed due to the war in Syria," Erdogan said at the opening of the parliament’s new legislative year.
"Should the international community wait until the figure reaches a million dead?" he said.
He also wondered how the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) could still exist in many parts of Syria and Iraq, despite a global coalition fighting against it for two years.
"This is the fifth year in Syria and third year in Iraq since ISIS emerged," Erdogan said, claiming there is a "plot" to maintain tension and instability in the region.
He said that is why his country had launched an incursion deep into Syria to clear the border areas from "terrorist groups."
"On the world stage, nobody opposed our operations in Syria, and so far Operation Euphrates Shield has cleared 5,000 square kilometers from ISIS (ISIS)," Erdogan said.
In a part of his speech the Turkish president accused the United States of supporting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its allied PYD and YPG forces, in Syria.
"America is working with PKK, PYD and YPG and opposing The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and that is a giant mistake they make," he warned.
He also claimed there are attempts to let the PKK take part in a looming offensive on the ISIS-held city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... in northern Iraq. "We will never accept that," he warned.
The Mosul offensive is anticipated to kick off soon, maybe as early as next month, and Erdogan vowed Turkish "will play a role" in the battle as well.
Erdogan had earlier revealed the timing for the battle to push ISIS out of its stronghold of Mosul as October 19.
[AlAhram] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey's parliament on Saturday overwhelmingly approved an extension by one year of an existing mandate to use Turkish troops abroad in Syria and Iraq.
The bill passed easily on the first day of the new session of parliament with support from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), secular opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Only the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) voted against.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
after being purged by Erdogan, is the Turkish military really capable of playing anything but a symbolic role in the Mosul battle?
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/02/2016 1:00 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Note the reference to the Saudis. Will Erdogan tolerate the Shiias winning in Syria, and take it out on the Kurds.
I'm hoping Trump is principled enough to say 'anyone who attacks the Kurds in Syria and Iraq will have cruise missiles raining down on them.'
[NYTIMES] Two men who found a travel bag containing a bomb on a Manhattan street last month -- and then walked off with the bag but left the bomb -- were not just employees of EgyptAir but in-flight security officers for the carrier, two officials at the airline said on Friday.
Surveillance footage showed two men finding the bag on West 27th Street on the evening of Sept. 17, soon after a bomb went kaboom! on West 23rd Street, injuring 31 people and triggering terrorism fears across the region.
In the video, the men were seen pulling from the travel bag a white plastic bag that contained a pressure cooker connected to wires and a mobile phone. They left the white bag on the sidewalk and walked away with the travel bag. The bomb did not explode, and Sherlocks have said that the men may have inadvertently disabled the device.
The two men, identified as Hassan Ali and Abou Bakr Radwan, had flown to New York from here, serving as unarmed security guards on the flight, the officials said.
The bag they found contained one of several homemade bombs that prosecutors say were planted that day in New York and New Jersey by Ahmad Khan Rahami, an Afghan-born American citizen.
American Sherlocks released footage of the two men, appealing for help in identifying them.
The EgyptAir officials who identified them as Mr. Ali and Mr. Radwan spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The officials said they believed that the two employees were not connected to Mr. Rahami or the bomb plot.
"They didn’t know what was in it," one of the officials said of the travel bag. Mr. Ali "told me he saw it and thought it was nice," the official recalled. "He opened the bag to check it out and found a pot."
Mr. Ali did not want to go to the trouble of flying the pot back to Cairo, the official said, so he put it aside and left with the travel bag.
"You know, we see things left on the street in New York all the time," the official said. "Stuff no one wants. It’s normal to take them."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Give these two Egyptians a FBI badge. They are as competent at recognizing a bomb as the FBI is at recognizing a terrorist.
[Wash Times] The nation's top counterterrorism official testified Tuesday that the world's army of terrorists is "broader, wider and deeper than any point since 9/11," the day al Qaeda attacked America.
Nicholas Rasmussen, who directs the National Counterterrorism Center, said the Islamic State may be losing ground in Iraq and Syria but its ability to strike abroad, including in the U.S., "has not thus far been significantly diminished."
The nation is facing a phase in which people quickly radicalize and launch simple but deadly attacks before authorities have time to detect them, he said.
His testimony to the Senate Homeland Security Committee conflicts with upbeat reports from the White House, which has focused on territorial losses in Syria and Iraq as signs that the Islamic State is being defeated.
"Even ISIL's leaders know they're going to keep losing," President Obama said in August. "In their message to followers, they're increasingly acknowledging that they may lose Mosul and Raqqa, and ISIL is right ... they will lose them. And we'll keep hitting them and pushing them back and driving them out until they do."
#4
Yes, they can leave it to domestic terrorists to do the work for them, like trashing the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
The nation is facing a phase in which people quickly radicalize and launch simple but deadly attacks before authorities have time to detect them, he said.
First, they refuse to detect them, that would be racist. Second, even if identified, they will only act after the event. SOP
Beyond last Thursday's raid by Indian special forces into Pakistan's side of divided Kashmir, New Delhi is considering new economic and diplomatic measures to bring pressure to bear on its neighbor, Indian officials said.
Some Indian officials said the military was not planning further attacks or a major military offensive against Pakistan. But they said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government was debating whether to use New Delhi's rising economic and diplomatic weight to squeeze Pakistan, a country one-fifth its size and with an economy seven times smaller. According to one of them, India could try to dissuade international companies from conducting business in Pakistan.
Options under consideration include choking trade with Pakistan that takes place through third countries such as the United Arab Emirates, officials said, even though it is limited and in India's favor.
Official trade between India and Pakistan was a modest $2.6 billion in 2014, but informal trade is estimated to be closer to $5 billion, with jewelry, textiles and machinery exported from India through third-country ports such as Dubai. India's informal imports from Pakistan through the same channels consist of textiles, dry fruits, spices and cement.
New Delhi is also considering building dams on rivers running into Pakistan and intensifying diplomatic pressure, hoping that it can show other countries how militants based in Pakistan impact the rest of the world, the officials added.
The steps being considered signal a far more assertive posture by India under Modi's nationalist administration than the previous government, but it risks further escalating tensions between the countries.
One Indian security official described the new Indian approach as moving from a "defensive posture to defensive offense", under which India works on the vulnerabilities of Pakistan - its economy, internal security and international image as an unstable nation, home to militant Islamist groups.
RANBIR SINGH PORA - India evacuated thousands of people living near the border with Pakistan on Friday, a day after claiming it carried out strikes in Kashmir that have dramatically escalated tensions with Pakistan.
Authorities in parts of northern India said they were evacuating villages within 10 kilometres of the border.
In Held Kashmir, police said more than 1,500 had moved away from areas where there was a risk of cross-border shelling, as fears of military escalation mounted.
"Most women and children have fled the village and taken shelter here," said one woman at a sports hall in Jammu's Ranbir Singh Pora town. "Our men are staying back to take care of the cattle, but we are scared," said the woman, who gave her name as Bibi.
Images from the northern Indian state of Punjab showed people piling bedding and cooking equipment onto trailers and cramming into crowded buses as security forces stood guard.
Jaswant Kaur said people in his village of Chak Allah Baksh in Punjab had been told to leave their homes. "Of course it's not a nice feeling to leave your home, crops, cattle and everything else behind," the 55-year-old told AFP. "Living here means we are always on the edge. We are really distressed."
According to Reuters, India evacuated more than 10,000 villagers living near the border, and ordered security forces to upgrade surveillance along the frontier in Occupied Kashmir.
Hundreds of villages were being cleared along a 15 km (9 mile) strip in the lowland region of Jammu and further north on the Line of Control in the Himalayan mountains of Kashmir.
Modi's government has been struggling to contain protests on the streets of Kashmir, where more than 80 civilians have been killed and thousands wounded in the last 10 weeks after a young rebel leader was killed by Indian forces.
Pakistan said on Friday that PM Nawaz Sharif's special envoys had arrived in Beijing to brief China on the deteriorating situation in Indian-held Kashmir. China, a Pakistan ally, expressed its concern, Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday assured that all attempts will be made to secure the release of a soldier who inadvertently crossed over to Pakistan.
"All attempts are being made to secure his release," Rajnath told reporters in New Delhi after attending a meet to discuss internal security situation. The home minister also said that New Delhi will take up the matter with Islamabad for his early release.
[DAWN] LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Friday indicted 42 suspects involved in lynching of two Moslem men outside Youhannabad in retaliation for two suicide kabooms on churches.
Nishtar Town police produced the suspects before the court under strict security arrangements and the court framed charges on them. The suspects pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." and opted to contest their trial.
The court adjourned the trial hearing till Oct 7 and directed the prosecution to produce its witnesses. Previously, the court had indicted 20 other suspects on same charges.
In March, 2015, two suicide attacks were carried out on two churches inside Youhanabad, a Christian dominated locality on Ferozepur Road, Lahore.
The members of the Christian community resorted to violent protest and burnt two Moslem men to death suspecting them the attackers. The two victims were later identified as Babar Noman, a garment worker, and Hafiz Naeem, a glass cutter, of the same locality.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iranian media says the Revolutionary Guard has built a new attack drone which is similar to a US drone captured five years ago.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported Saturday that the "Saegheh" drone was built by the Guard's aerospace division and is similar to the RQ-170 Sentinel spy drone. The report did not elaborate on the new drone’s range.
Iran claimed to have shot down an RQ-170 drone in December 2011 and broadcast footage of the recovered aircraft. It also claims to have captured three ScanEagle drones.
Iran said last year that it had successfully tested its replica of the RQ-170.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#2
Actually I wish there was a A-12 to crash. Remember that when you get the hen house bitching going on about the F-35. Does the F-35 already outnumber the F-22? Think so, fact check me on this, hummmm. 100 in USAF, 40-50 in USMC at least 10 in Navy, 3 RAF, 2 Norwegian, 2 Japaneese, unk for IDF, Australia. No soup for Canada.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... , in a meeting last week with a small number of Syrian civilians and others, said he had lost an argument within the B.O. regime to back up diplomatic efforts to end the bloodshed in Syria with the threat of using military force, the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... reported on Friday.
The newspaper said it had obtained an audio recording of the 40-minute discussion that took place at the Dutch Mission to the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... on Sept. 22.
The approximately 20 participants included representatives of four Syrian groups that provide education, rescue and medical services in rebel-held areas and diplomats from three or four countries, the Times said.
The meeting took place days after a ceasefire Kerry had negotiated with Russia had collapsed and rebel-held areas of the Syrian city of Aleppo were coming under heavy air strikes as Moscow and Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... ’s government rejected a US plea to halt flights.
The Times said Kerry repeatedly complained that his diplomacy had not been backed by a serious threat of military force.
"I think you’re looking at three people, four people in the administration who have all argued for use of force, and I lost the argument," Kerry said in an audio clip posted on the Times website.
"We’re trying to pursue the diplomacy, and I understand it’s frustrating. You have nobody more frustrated than we are," Kerry said.
The recording was made by a non-Syrian who attended the session, the newspaper reported, adding that several other participants confirmed its authenticity.
Russian forces joined the Syrian war a year ago, tipping the balance of power in favor of Assad, who is also supported by Iranian ground forces and Shiite militia fighters from Leb and Iraq.
The Times said several people in the meeting pressed Kerry on what they saw as contradictions in US policy.
It said one woman, Marcell Shehwaro, asked "how many Syrians" had to be killed to prompt serious action.
Kerry responded that "Assad’s indifference to anything" could push the B.O. regime to consider new options, the Times said, but he also said that "any further American effort to arm rebels or join the fight could backfire."
The Times said State Department front man John Kirby declined to comment on what he described as a private conversation. The State Department did not immediately respond to a Rooters request for comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
What a putz
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/02/2016 13:47 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Sorry, Jawn. It's legacy-time at the White House.
#5
Barry lost his patience with Bill on the tarmac in Israel at Peres' funeral when he was chatting up Kerry too long....wonder what the three were up to?
Posted by: One Eyed Speaking for Boskone7919 ||
10/02/2016 21:05 Comments ||
Top||
That part of the UN interested in intervening already is doing so, on various sides.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) demanded on Saturday that the UN intervene in Syria to stop aerial bombardments of the city of Aleppo that it said were killing hundreds of civilians.
The Sunni Moslem dominated council - representing Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... - said a Syrian government offensive on the city was systematically destroying neighborhoods and a "flagrant aggression contrary to international laws."
"The Secretary-General ... demands that the UN Security Council intervene immediately to stop the aggression on the city of Aleppo and end the suffering of the Syrian people," the GCC said in a statement on Saudi state news agency SPA.
It called on the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... to "implement relevant council resolutions over the Syria crisis."
For 10 days a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive has been underway to capture eastern Aleppo and crush the last urban stronghold of a revolt against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... that began in 2011.
The collapse of the latest Syria ceasefire has heightened the possibility that Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and
Qatar might arm Syrian rebels with shoulder-fired missiles to defend themselves against Syrian and Russian warplanes, US officials said on Monday.
La Belle France’s foreign minister said on Wednesday he was working to put forward a UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in Aleppo, and that any country that opposed it would be deemed complicit in war crimes.
The United States continues to maintain that negotiations are the only way to end the carnage.
But frustration with Washington has intensified, raising the possibility that Gulf allies - key backers of Syrian rebels - or The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... will no longer continue to follow the US lead or will turn a blind eye to wealthy individuals looking to supply man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, to opposition groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] "Direct aggression" by the United States towards the Syrian government and armed forces would lead to "frightening, tectonic shifts" in the Middle East, RIA news agency cited Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying on Saturday.
Russia and the United States back opposing sides in the Syrian conflict.
A US-Russian brokered ceasefire in Syria recently fell apart, and Russian war planes on Saturday struck rebel-held areas north of the Syrian city of Aleppo.
Zakharova warned that regime change in Syria would create a vacuum that would be "quickly filled" by "forces of Evil of all stripes."
US-Russian tensions over Syria have escalated since the breakdown of a cease-fire last month, with each side blaming the other for its failure.
Syrian government forces backed by Russian warplanes have launched a major onslaught on rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo.
Russian jets pound Aleppo Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, a little lightbulb figuratively appeared over Bossy's head... Russian war planes struck rebel held areas north of Aleppo on Saturday as the army shelled the besieged old quarter in a major offensive, rebels and a monitoring group said.
Russia was reported on Friday to be sending more warplanes to Syria to ramp up its air campaign as the United States said it had not yet given up on finding a diplomatic resolution.
The latest strikes come 10 days into a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive to capture rebel-held eastern Aleppo and crush the last urban stronghold of a revolt against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... that began in 2011.
Saturday’s air strikes focused on major supply lines into rebel-held areas - the Castello Road and Malah district - while fighting raged in the Suleiman al-Halabi neighborhood, the front line to the north of Aleppo’s Old City.
US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by telephone for a third day on Friday, with Russia’s top diplomat saying Moscow was ready to consider more ways to normalize the situation in Aleppo.
But Lavrov criticized Washington's failure to separate moderate rebel groups from those the Russians call terrorists, which had allowed forces led by the group formerly known as the Nusra front to violate the US-Russian truce agreed on Sept. 9.
The United States made clear it would not, at least for now, carry through a threat made on Wednesday to halt the diplomacy if Russia did not take immediate steps to end the violence.
Moscow and Assad spurned the ceasefire to launch the new offensive, potentially the biggest and most decisive battle of the civil war, which is now in its sixth year.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/02/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[ENGADGET] The Department of Defense announced on Friday that it is investing $100 million in a drone base located in Agadez, in central Niger. 
[RUDAW.NET] Turkish President 
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] US Secretary of State 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
